September wildlife survey, Hemblington Church

Linda and I had been gently persuaded to act as marshals for a sponsored bike ride that staged at the Church, so I decided to combine my shift with the September survey. With temperatures in the low thirties I wasn't too sanguine about seeing either riders or birds, but in fact there were enough of the latter to make the 90 minutes pass quite quickly. (Although only two riders appeared during my stint!)

Dawn comet Nishimura - just about!

I crawled out of bed at 3.45 and checked the condition of the sky: it was cloudless, but there was a definite haze to the east. Still: Venus was very bright, so I thought it would be worth a drive to the top of the Heath. As I drove towards the Church a dense layer of mist descended: visibilty was around ten metres! Nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I cautiously carried on eastwards, turning into a field gate just past South Walsham. 

The mist occasionally unravelled to reveal Leo close to the horizon: despite the nearby Moon, I could just make out the comet with binoculars and managed a few images with a ten second exposure. Not 'Sky at Night' standard, but good to catch up with my twentieth comet.

Comet C 2023 P1, Nishimura

Discovered by the Japanese astronomer Hideo Nishimura as recently as August, this long-term periodic comet is currently in the eastern sky just before dawn  (4.00am-ish!) in the constellation of Leo. It should just about be visible with the naked eye at around magnitude 5, but will possibly become easier to pick out as it passes around the Sun and into the evening sky after the weekend. 

I've had several attempts at finding Nishimura, but we've had five days of pre-dawn mist from the North Sea: fingers crossed the 'seeing' in Norfolk will improve soon!

The photo below is from the public domain, and shows what can be achieved using a 300mm lens with Astrotracker or a driven mount...

Enjoyable afternoon in the Brecks: some good birds but no photos!

With the day free for both of us, Linda and I decided on a run down to the Brecks. First stop was the 'usual' Stone Curlew gathering site, but with the fields knee-high in sugar beet there was no chance.

After a short drive we spent an hour or so at Lynford, starting off the beaten track before retracing our steps to the famous five bar gate. To our amazement we watched two Hawfinches drinking and bathing at the concrete bowl along the ride. Unfortunately this was mostly obscured by tall grass, so no photos: terrific to watch though. Other birds here included Nuthatch and Siskin. The only new bird for the year was - finally - a Goldcrest! We watched one flitting from tree to tree high in the canopy with a tit flock. Lots of butterflies, but little else, so we drove back to Swaffham for a late tapas lunch at the delightful Tutankhamun's Emporium.

Arachnophilia

I'm not a massive fan of spiders (unlike friend Garth, for whom they are a passion!) but these colourful and impressively large Wasp Spiders at Gramborough Hill, Salthouse yesterday, were certainly worth examining! I have seen a number before, near the old Roman town of Caister: those had constructed funnel-shaped webs low down in the tall grass, but yesterday's were right out in the open, their 'normal' webs being at waist height right by the path!

North Coast mop up!

Norman having changed his Merc sports car for a brand new Mercedes EQA, he was keen to give it a run up to the North Coast: I have to say, it was a lovely ride - better even than his Bentley Continental!

First stop was Salthouse for a walk out to Gramborough Hill. The light was generally appalling: almost everything was a silhouette! We did manage several Wheatears, a Whinchat, a couple of Stonechats and a largish Pipit. Offshore there was an impressive movement of Razorbills heading eastwards: with them was a smaller bird that had the look of a Murrelet of some sort...

Bishop's at Cley was next stop, where an obliging Green Sandpiper joined a trio of Snipe in front of the hide. Two distant Curlew Sands were the best of the rest...

After coffee we walked East Bank, adding four Spoonbills and a Hobby to the day list. A brief seawatch produced close Gannets (every juvenile being scrutinised for boobiness!) lots of Sandwich Terns and a distant flock of Little Gulls.

The Moon and Jupiter

The Queen and King of the heavens, together in the dawn sky this morning: a beautiful sight!

Beautiful Moon...

Although the media always hypes up the various full Moons during the year, the best time to look at our satellite is almost any other time! The oblique sunlight at first or last quarter phases throws the surface into strong relief: even a small telescope will reveal a wealth of fascinating surface features: the huge, ancient crater Janssen showed up well on the terminator (margin between light and dark)

These photos were taken last night using just a 300mm lens

Back to the Blues Bar!

One of our favourite venues! Back to Lowestoft next Sunday for a full afternoon of rock and blues: all the numbers you love and a few brand new ones!